Target adjusted profit rises for holiday quarter

Target earned $981 million, or $1.45 per share, in the fiscal fourth quarter, compared with a profit of $1.04 billion, or $1.45, a year earlier. Excluding certain costs, adjusted profit per share came to $1.49, compared to $1.38 a year earlier.

Target expects to earn between $4.55 and $4.75 per share this year, excluding the costs of its entry into Canada. That includes 97 cents to $1.07 per share for the first quarter.

Target previously said that sales rose 3.3 percent to $20.94 billion. Sales at stores open at least a year, or same-store sales, rose 2.2 percent, down from a 2.4 percent rise during the prior holiday season.

The average amount spent per transaction at those established stores rose 1.8 percent as shoppers bought more items and prices were higher.

(Reporting by Phil Wahba in New York and Jessica Wohl in Chicago, editing by Dave Zimmerman)